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User talk:Shouldda, Wouldda, Couldda...
“Breaking Bad” is arguably the best TV drama in many years, if not the best ever. It delves into the human psyche reaching the depths aching to Dostoevsky, Nabokov and Salinger. Still, one loose end, a teaser early in the show, has been left in its primordial state keeping us wondering, what if…. It is implied in their flashback dialogue that many years ago Walter and Gretchen were romantically involved but she married Elliot Schwartz instead. A trivial love triangle, however, is hardly the reason for Walter to quit Gray Matter Technologies, the company all three of them cofounded. As Jessica Hecht, an actress who plays Gretchen explains: “''Vince Gilligan told us exactly what went down between the characters off screen: We were very much in love and we were to get married. And he came home and met my family, and I come from this really successful, wealthy family, and that knocks him on his side. He couldn’t deal with this inferiority he felt — this lack of connection to privilege. It made him terrified, and he literally just left me, and I was devastated. Walt is fighting his way out of going back to that emotional place, so he says, “F*** you.''” It is a very compelling story. And yet, somehow it is impossible to dismiss an unfulfilled promise of true love in pursuit of happiness which flickers meekly in the back of your mind inevitably igniting this easily combustible “what if”. Perhaps, it is this deep-seated insatiable longing for a happy ending in all of us which keeps humming: “What would have happened to Walter White should he had chosen to stay with Gray Matter? Better yet, what if Walter’s lung cancer agreed to wait at least a few more years?” Obviously, it would be highly unlikely for Walter the Nobel Prize Winner to earn a dubious honor of being The Best Chef in the Underworld as there would be no need to cook meth for living. Would a successful and fabulously wealthy Walter White be able to find his peace and happiness in quiet family life? Or would he turn into a psychopath anyway, say, a Bernie Madoff type, and still would have to face his own demons? Let’s imagine what was in the cards for Walter and his family after, instead of bolting hastily out of his soon-to-be happy love life and brilliant career, Walter had given a little more consideration to the consequences of his knee-jerk decision. After all, as he later proved it so many times, Walter White is an excellent strategist, a mastermind who makes the Unabomber look like an amateur. In the end, life is a box of chocolates, isn’t it? So why won’t we give a guy a chance to try another much sweeter candy? Let’s rewind and meet Walter White again on his 50th birthday. They say that all roads lead to Rome. One way to find it out is to hit the road. Feel free to join Walter White on “The Last Trip to Rome”.